FIM MotoGP World Championship Le Mans, France May 13 Free Practice Two Results (all on Bridgestone tires): 1. Casey STONER, Australia (HONDA), 1:33.782 2. Marco SIMONCELLI, Italy (HONDA), 1:34.186 3. Dani PEDROSA, Spain (HONDA), 1:34.478 4. Nicky HAYDEN, USA (DUCATI), 1:34.652 5. Jorge LORENZO, Spain (YAMAHA), 1:34.659 6. Andrea DOVIZIOSO, Italy (HONDA), 1:34.705 7. Colin EDWARDS, USA (YAMAHA), 1:34.939 8. Hiroshi AOYAMA, Japan (HONDA), 1:34.959 9. Valentino ROSSI, Italy (DUCATI), 1:34.966 10. Ben SPIES, USA (YAMAHA), 1:34.976 11. Randy DE PUNIET, France (DUCATI), 1:34.998 12. Cal CRUTCHLOW, Great Britain (YAMAHA), 1:35.158 13. Loris CAPIROSSI, Italy (DUCATI), 1:35.383 14. Hector BARBERA, Spain (DUCATI), 1:35.902 15. Alvaro BAUTISTA, Spain (SUZUKI), 1:35.992 16. Toni ELIAS, Spain (HONDA), 1:36.304 17. Karel ABRAHAM, Czech Republic (DUCATI), 1:36.327 More, from a press release issued by Rizla Suzuki: Rizla Suzuki’s Álvaro Bautista today completed his first full day of practice on a MotoGP machine at the Le Mans circuit in France, but still feels he has more work to do. Bautista (P15, 1’35.992, 42 laps) is still recovering from the broken femur he suffered eight weeks ago, and is yet to reach full fitness, but the plucky Spaniard didn’t let that bother him today as he set about coming to terms with the stop-start nature of the Le Mans track a configuration that certainly tested him and the Suzuki GSV-R to the limit. Bautista progressed steadily throughout the day and recorded his best lap-time of the penultimate circulation of the afternoon session. He worked with his team to get the GSV-R set-up to give him the confidence he requires and is convinced he will be stronger as the weekend progresses. Today marked the first time that Bautista has completed a session on a MotoGP bike after a crash in last year’s first session ruled him out of the rest of the weekend’s proceedings. Today’s practices were both held in dry and sunny conditions, but a brisk wind kept temperatures at a pleasant 24ºC this afternoon. Honda’s Casey Stoner led the way in both of today’s practice sessions to top the leader-board on day one. Rizla Suzuki and Bautista have one more practice session tomorrow morning, before an hour of qualifying in the afternoon. Sunday’s 28-lap race is the fourth round of the 2011 season and the lights will go out to signal the start of the race at 14.00hrs local time (12.00hrs GMT). Álvaro Bautista: “It has been a difficult day because for me this has really been the first time I’ve ridden a MotoGP bike here – after crashing and not being able to continue last year. In both sessions I had a bit of a problem entering the corners because I didn’t feel like I had enough grip. The bike felt like it was floating and this didn’t give me the confidence to turn quickly. We will have to work on this to improve things, but I have complete faith in my team that they will get it sorted out. We still need a bit more time to get the bike set right so I can start to push to the limit, but the bike didn’t give me that today and in my condition it’s quite difficult to push that far. My mind and my body still don’t want to risk anything, so we still need to go step-by-step, but I’m sure we’ll be quicker tomorrow. My leg is much better than Portugal, it’s still not perfect, but I was able to do the whole of today’s practices without getting too tired.” Paul Denning Team Manager: “Álvaro is more focussed on performance here in Le Mans, than he is on recovering from his broken leg, but we have to be realistic and remember that he is still in the recuperation process. In addition, the Le Mans circuit holds some horrible memories from last year, so for all these reasons it will take a while to build his confidence and let him attack the circuit. Without question there’s work to do with the bike and the benefits of the new chassis are not being felt yet – we need to get the settings right so he can go closer to the limits. We’ve done plenty of laps today – and got some useful data – and now we have a base to be able to improve significantly tomorrow.” More, from a press release issued by Bridgestone: Stoner fastest on first day in France using harder slicks Round 4: French GP Free Practice One & Two Le Mans Circuit, Friday 13 May 2011 Bridgestone slick compounds available: Front: Soft, Medium. Rear (asymmetric): Soft, Medium Casey Stoner finished the first day of practice for the French Grand Prix fastest overall, lapping under the existing lap record by nearly 0.5seconds. His fastest lap came on the harder option front and rear Bridgestone slicks, but he also lapped under the lap record and set provisional fastest using the new soft asymmetric rear tyre. In fact, after just the first session of running this weekend Stoner had already lapped faster than the lap record on the soft rear, indicating that both the harder and the new soft option slicks selected for this grand prix are performing well. Second fastest was satellite Honda rider Marco Simoncelli, continuing his recent run of good form and the only other rider under the lap record. Dani Pedrosa finished third fastest making for an all- Honda top three, and was the only rider who went faster in the morning’s session than in the afternoon. The top three riders all used the harder front and rear slicks to set their fastest times in the second free practice. Conditions all day were fine and dry, and whilst the track temperature in the morning was cool, meaning that every rider favoured the soft front slick tyre and the new soft asymmetric rear, it was much warmer in the afternoon and the harder slicks proved fastest. The new soft / extra soft asymmetric slick tyre worked well today, allowing the riders to set fast times right from the start despite the cool track. Whilst the gaps at the front could be measured in tenths of a second, only 0.037seconds covered seventh to tenth positions. Masao Azuma Chief Field Engineer, Bridgestone Motorsport “I am pleased with the performance of both our slick tyre options today as we can see from the laptimes that both worked well. This morning, our new soft asymmetric rear tyre provided good feeling for the riders from the start and enabled the laptimes to be fast, and I am impressed that even in the first session of the weekend Casey was faster than the lap record. Then in the afternoon, as the temperature rose, many riders switched to the harder slicks and the times were also very good with both Casey and Marco faster than the lap record. The weather today has been good but it may play more of a role tomorrow and on Sunday when the forecast becomes less favourable.” More, from a press release issued by Monster Yamaha Tech 3: Encouraging start for Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team on home soil The Monster Yamaha Tech 3 squad made an encouraging start to preparations for the Team’s all-important home race in France after Colin Edwards and Cal Crutchlow set a fast and competitive pace on the opening day of practice at the historic Le Mans circuit. Today’s session was run in gloriously sunny conditions, which gave Edwards and Crutchlow the perfect opportunity to focus on making further adjustments and improvements to the settings they found during a successful one-day test session after the recent Estoril round in Portugal. Edwards was able to knock almost a second off his best time from this morning’s session, the American thrilled that a revised set-up he eval uated in Estoril to improve rear grip barely needed to be modified to allow him to challenge for a top six time in Le Mans today. Edwards ended with a best time of 1.34.939 to finish just 0.5s away from the top three in seventh place on the combined timesheets. Crutchlow’s incredible prowess at quickly learning new tracks was evident again today, the British rider finishing second quickest Yamaha in this morning’s session as he immediately adapted to the heavy braking and hard acceleration characteristics of the legendary Bugatti track. Ninth fastest in the opening session, Crutchlow looked certain to force his way deservedly back into the top ten this afternoon when he suffered a small front-end crash in the final three minutes. Despite shaving over 0.6s off his best time set this morning, Crutchlow had to settle for 12th on the leaderboard, a resu lt that certainly didn’t show a true reflection of the 25-year-old’s potential. Colin Edwards 7th 1.34.939 41 laps “I knew we’d made a big step with the changes we made to the bike during the test in Estoril and today’s practice confirmed that. We made a couple of little tweaks to the setting we finished the test in Portugal with, but by the end of the day the bike was pretty much identical to how we put it on the truck a couple of weeks back. I feel like I’ve got a lot more rear grip and the bike goes in the direction that I point it and that just makes my riding feel really natural. I’ve been missing that feeling and for most of the year I’ve been fighting the bike to get it to do something. But today it was much easier to do the lap time. And it doesn’t matter what track you’re on, if you can ride without fighting the bike, you can string to gether some good laps. I’m really happy but we can make the bike a little bit better. I’d like to get the electronics helping me turn on the exit a bit more in some of the tighter sections. Overall it has been a really positive start and that’s important being such a huge race for the Team and for Monster.” Cal Crutchlow 12th 1.35.158 42 laps “I’m pretty happy with how today went apart from the stupid crash at the end which was just a mistake I made in braking for Turn 6. I just ran in a bit hot on the brakes and tipped off. Despite that I was only a tenth behind Colin and he’s got a great record at this track. On the lap I crashed I’d done my best splits of the session in the first two sectors and was only two-tenths off the best lap at that point. If I’d lost another two-tenths in the second two splits then I’d have been in the top six. To finish 12th doesn’t do us justice at all and if we can carry on tomorrow making the same progression I did today, I know I can be comfortably in the top ten. Although people told me Le Mans was going to be easier to learn than Jerez and Estoril, I actually think it is harder because it is so hard to pick up the tenths you need to go faster. And it doesn’t help make it any easier when Casey goes out on lap record pace in the first practice! We can make the bike better for tomorrow. As soon as I open the throttle I run wide, so I’ll have a sit down with my guys and come up with a plan to solve that tomorrow. This is a massive weekend for the Team and Monster and today was a positive start, so I’m looking forward to Sunday and fighting for a top ten again.” More, from a press release issued by Yamaha MotoGP Team: The first track sessions of the French round of the 2011 MotoGP Championship were played out under glorious sunshine in Le Mans today. Yamaha Factory Racing riders Jorge Lorenzo and Ben Spies spent the morning and afternoon free practice sessions working through a number of chassis set-up changes and tyre options in preparation for Sunday’s Grand Prix. Lorenzo wrapped up the day in fifth having taken just over half a second off his morning time with improved set-up. The reigning World Champion will focus on improving his bike’s ability to turn in tomorrow morning’s final free practice ahead of the afternoon qualifying session. Lorenzo’s team mate Ben Spies was happy to be back on the bike and re-building his confidence after his DNF at Estoril two weeks ago. Echoing his team mate’s performance Spies also made good improvements over the day, taking nearly eight tenths of a second off his time by end of session and finishing in tenth. The Texan claimed the highest speed on the Le Mans circuit for the sessions, clocking 288.9km/hr with his Yamaha YZR-M1. Jorge Lorenzo Position : 5th Time: 1’34.659 Laps: 45 “As I’ve said before, this year it’s going to be a difficult year. Some of the other riders are much faster than before. We’re working hard and we are trying a lot of things to improve the bike. We will keep on, we made some improvements over today and I hope tomorrow we will make a step and be a bit faster.” Ben Spies Position : 10th Time: 1’34.976 Laps: 48 “I was pretty happy with today, building some confidence back up after the last race in Estoril. The sessions went pretty well for us we just didn’t put in one fast lap. We’ve been quite consistent with race distance on the tyres and I’m reasonably happy with the bike so if we can make it better for tomorrow I think we’ll be up with the front guys.” Wilco Zeelenberg Team Manager “The second session went a bit better but we’re not completely happy and satisfied as we are still missing some ‘turnability’. We improved a bit from the morning, Jorge was more consistent and a bit faster but for sure he wants more and we do need it. Hopefully tomorrow we can make another step without losing our strong points because at the moment braking on corner entry is quite good.” Massimo Meregalli Team Director “We still have some work to do but the balance of Ben’s bike is not too far off. We are also working to find which tyre is best for tomorrow’s qualifying; we are positive about what we can achieve in the next sessions. Jorge made clear improvements over the day although they are still looking to find some more agility.” More, from a press release issued by Dorna Communications: Repsol Honda’s Casey Stoner dominated the first day of action at the Monster Energy Grand Prix de France, posting the fastest time in both free practice sessions. Stoner topped the first session ahead of his team-mate Dani Pedrosa and Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini) and the same three were up front again in the second free practice session. The Australian set the fastest lap of 1’33.782 in the afternoon session which was 0.404s faster than Simoncelli and nearly four-tenths quicker than his best time set in the free practice one. The Italian, who was second fastest, has twice finished on the podium in France when racing in the 250cc class, including a win in 2009. Pedrosa was the only rider unable to improve on his time set in the morning practice, in a session which was much hotter than the conditions in the morning. The Spaniard’s lap time in FP1 was 1’34.431, compared to 1’34.478 set in FP2. The gap between Stoner and Pedrosa’s lap time was 0.696s. Nicky Hayden (Ducati Team) produced a late effort to claim the fourth fastest time and finish the highest Ducati. The American secured his best ever finish at the French GP in 2010 when he came fourth as the first Ducati rider across the line. Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha Factory Racing) who has won back to back races here at Le Mans in 2009 and 2010, made a big improvement from his first session of the day, by finding half a second in his lap times to finish fifth. Sixth was Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda) who has finished on the podium six times at the Le Mans circuit. The Italian was third in this morning’s session. Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) was seventh and the second fastest Yamaha. The 37 year-old has had a good record at this circuit with two rostrum places here in both 2005 and 2008. Japanese rider Hiroshi Aoyama (San Carlo Honda Gresini) was eighth in FP2, 1.177s off Stoner’s time, with Valentino Rossi (Ducati Team) ninth. The final spot in the top ten went to Ben Spies (Yamaha Factory Racing), whilst local favourite Randy de Puniet (Pramac Racing) was just outside the top ten in eleventh. Cal Crutchlow (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) making his racing debut at this circuit, as he did in Estoril, crashed at Turn 8 in the last five minutes of the session, but was able to remount. The British rider finished 12th. Moto2 In a very competitive Moto2 second practice, it was Stefan Bradl (Viessmann Kiefer Racing) who led the way for this weekend’s Monster Energy Grand Prix de France, as he did in the morning. Thomas Lüthi (Interwetten Paddock Moto2) was second ahead of Simone Corsi (Ioda Racing Project). The German rider pulled out a last minute lap to rocket to the top of the timesheets with a time of 1’38.709 which was nearly three-tenths faster than Lüthi and four-tenths quicker than his own best lap from the morning. If Bradl records pole position tomorrow in qualifying, it will be his fourth successive pole of the 2011 campaign. The Kalex rider’s previous best finish here in Le Mans is a sixth place. Lüthi who crashed in the final moments of FP1, was the nearest challenger to the dominat Bradl. Le Mans is the only circuit at which the Swiss rider has has two Grand Prix victories. Simone Corsi (Ioda Racing Project) who was third in Le Mans in the Moto2 class last season, looked set to achieve the quickest time in FP2 until the dying moments but finished half a second off Bradl’s quickest lap. The riders between second and 20th on the grid were separated by just one second as they competed in very hot and sunny conditions in Northern France. Jules Cluzel (Forward Racing) on the Suter was fourth fastest, ahead of Andrea Iannone (Speed Master) who progressed from 11th fastest in FP1. The Italian had his best ever result at Le Mans last season when he achieved fourth place. Sixth place went to Marc Márquez (Team CatalunyaCaixa Repsol) who secured his first pole position in the 125cc class at Le Mans in 2009. Alex de Angelis (JiR Moto2) was seventh quickest in the afternoon practice, whilst eighth went to Yuki Takahashi (Gresini Racing). The Japanese rider claimed his maiden victory in Grand Prix racing in the 250cc race at Le Mans in 2006. Aleix Espargaró (Pons HP 40) was ninth ahead of Julián Simón (Mapfre Aspar), who won the 125cc race French GP two years ago. 125 Current Championship leader Nicolás Terol Bankia (Aspar) grabbed the fastest time in the second practice session of the day, for this weekend’s Monster Energy Grand Prix de France, from fellow Spaniard Efrén Vázquez (Avant-AirAsia-Ajo). Third fastest was Sandro Cortese (Intact Racing Team Germany). The Bankia Aspar rider’s time of 1’43.788 was nearly 1.5s quicker than his fastest time of FP1. Terol finished second here last season after qualifying on pole for the first time in his GP career and will be aiming for his fourth successive victory of the 2011 campaign. Efrén Vázquez (Avant-AirAsia-Ajo) who finished fourth at Le Mans in 2010 had topped the timesheets for most of the session until Terol snatched the quickest time in the final moments. The Avant-AirAsia-Ajo rider had a nasty highside on his last lap and was lucky to be able to ride back to the pits unharmed. Terol’s best lap was just over half a second ahead of his Spanish compatriot. With warmer temperatures for FP2, compared to a very fresh start in the morning, it was Cortese who was the highest placed German rider. The 21 year-old finished in sixth place in France in 2010 and that has been his best result in six Grand Prix starts at the circuit. There was a gap of nearly another half a second to the next rider in fourth place, Héctor Faubel (Bankia Aspar). Jonas Folger (Red Bull Ajo Motorsport) had problems with his machine at the start of the session but the German finished fifth on the timesheet. Sixth quickest was Luis Salom (RW Racing GP) who finished eighth in Portugal, with Maverick Viñales (Blusens by Paris Hilton Racing Team) seventh, one spot ahead of Johann Zarco (Avant-AirAsia-Ajo). Alberto Moncayo (Team Andalucía Banca Cívica) was ninth fastest with the third Bankia Aspar rider taking the final spot in the top ten, Adrián Martín. The 18 year-old equalled his best finish in Grand Prix racing in Portugal with a ninth place. Martín was 1.719s off his team mate Terol’s fastest time of the session. More, from a press release issued by LCR Honda: DEMANDING FRANCE GP OPENING DAY FOR ELIAS AND HIS SQUAD Le Mans, 13 May: The MotoGP World Championship continues its swing through the European heart of the schedule with a stop at the famous “24 Heures circuit du Mans” in the Sarthe region of France for the opening day of the fourth round of the season. Spring temperatures of 24 degrees welcomed the premier class riders at the 4.158 km race track with Stoner on the top of the time sheet with a best lap time of 1’33.782. Despite the good weather, the opening day of Grand Prix of France was not positive for LCR Honda MotoGP racer Toni Elias who came here with high motivation after some small improvements in the last test session in Estoril but could not make the most of his RCV ending the day in 16th position (1’36.304). Elias: “Honestly I was expecting a different result. After the small adjustments we made in Portugal I was confident to set a good pace on this track because I like its stop-and-go nature but with this overall package I could not lap as I would like. We are still struggling with rear traction control and we must concentrate on honing our machine stability during braking, as well as improving the rear feeling for the numerous hairpin exits”. More, from a press release issued by Repsol Honda: Repsol Honda maintain rhythm in Le Mans Free Practice After their strong performances in Portugal, the Repsol Honda trio maintained momentum in the first free practice sessions of the Grand Prix of France. The team returned to work with a similar set up used two weeks ago in Estoril, a comparable track layout wise, and after the first two sessions the riders are confident in improving their pace and performance looking for good qualifying results. Casey Stoner topped the time sheets in both free practice sessions, with Dani Pedrosa the third fastest rider of the day and Andrea Dovizioso sixth. Stoner’s fastest laptime of 1’33.782 in his first outing with the RC212V in Le Mans was just a fraction off Valentino Rossi’s pole position last season (1’33.408) and almost half a second quicker than the existing Circuit Lap Record of 1’34.215 set by Rossi in 2008. Stoner kept a similar set up to Portugal and focused on improving traction in the rear of his machine. Pedrosa, after missing the majority of the post-race test in Portugal due to his physical condition, took his time this afternoon to try the new Ohlins front fork and also both hard and soft tyres to compare. Dovizioso spent the sessions trying to improve stability under braking and working on set up for tomorrow’s qualifying session. CASEY STONER 1st – 1’33.782 “The track has quite good grip and we have a better feeling than in the past few years in this track and we are very happy, we went out this morning and didn’t change so much from Portugal as the tracks are pretty similar for us, we felt good immediately and then changed a few things and tried something we haven’t tested before on the Honda which seemed to give us more traction in the rear without affecting anything else. The weather is fantastic here and I hope it stays this way! We’re happy to be where we are and we’ll continue to work tomorrow morning to ensure we have the best set up for qualifying. Every session we do we’re trying to modify something to improve the bike, I don’t know if this is good enough to get pole at the moment as people are able to pull out a very good lap on the soft tyre, today we are fast but I’m sure tomorrow the others will also be fast, at this moment we feel comfortable with the settings with just a few more adjustments to make tomorrow, hopefully we can stay ahead of the rest”. DANI PEDROSA 3rd – 1’34.431 “In the morning it was difficult with the cold conditions to find some grip and then in the afternoon the grip got better but we couldn’t improve as much as we expected. Anyway we have some ideas and I hope to make a step forward tomorrow. We need to work on the front and rear suspension to get a better feeling, the bike was moving a lot this afternoon entering and at the exit of the corners. We have to keep the momentum and bounce back again because we are doing well, the bike is going very strong and we have to keep focused and work hard”. ANDREA DOVIZIOSO 6th – 1’34.705 “This morning we started well and we continued working on the set up of the bike in the afternoon. We tried a different setting on the other bike to improve the stability under braking but we didn’t get the results we expected. Tomorrow we will continue to fine tune the set up and the electronics. I feel I have margin to improve so I’m not too worried, I have always had good results on this track and the feeling with the machine is good. I’m not happy of the nine tenths gap from Casey, he is very fast, but apart from him we are closer to the first riders. We need to keep on working and improve the race pace”. More, from a press release issued by Pramac Racing: DE PUNIET ELEVENTH IN FREE PRACTICE AT HOME GP. CAPIROSSI THIRTEENTH Just a few hundredths of a second separates both Randy De Puniet”””landlord” of the fourth round in Le Mans””and Loris Capirossi from the leading group on the first day of practice session at the Le Mans Motogp round, ending the day with satisfaction for the Pramac Racing Team. In the morning session, De Puniet stopped the clock with a time 1’35.687. In the afternoon, the Frenchman lowered his best time to 1’34.998, closing the day eleventh. Capirossi had the thirteenth-fastest lap time at 1’35.383. The Italian rider improved his best time as well, lowering it by a second compared to that of the first practice session. The last free practice session is tomorrow, with qualifying in the afternoon. Marco Rigamonti – Randy De Puniet Track Engineer “Since this morning, we’ve tried different solutions to solve the problems that Randy found. We worked especially in the front of the bike, as Randy had difficulty finishing the corners. To solve the problem, the Franchman tried a pretty extreme solution. We’ll try to take a step forward tomorrow. We tested also the tires, we know how to make the race, although tomorrow we will have final answer. We are near to the leading group, I think that tomorrow we can improve our results”. Randy De Puniet – Pilota Pramac Racing Team – 11° miglior tempo 1’34.998 “I’ve improved my performance, my best lap time is lowered and the feeling with the bike is good. The front of the bike didn’t get the same problems since Estoril, although it’s not perferct. We took half step forward, tomorrow I hope to confirm my progress. I’m calm, run here, in my home, give me a lot of energies”. Loris Capirossi – Pilota Pramac Racing Team 13° miglior tempo 1’35.383 “I’m satisfied. We took a great step forward changing the bike. Each time we came out of the garage we managed to improved our lap times. We know where to work, the bike is balanced, but give up when braking as it doesn’t turn as it should. Let’s see if we can improve a bit more in the last free practie and solve the problem. I am a bit worried about tomorrow climatic conditions: ride with such a low temperature certainly doensn’t help to keep the tires on the asphalt”. More, from a press release issued by Marlboro Ducati: HAYDEN FOURTH AND ROSSI NINTH IN FREE PRACTICE IN FRANCE On a day marked by beautiful weather, Nicky Hayden and Valentino Rossi earned the fourth- and ninth-best times, respectively, during the first two free-practice sessions at the French Grand Prix. During the afternoon session, the American found a good feeling with his GP11, and he hopes to continue at the same level over the course of the weekend. The Italian, on the other hand, was affected by setup issues, and by the time he and his crew made a change that seemed promising, he only had time for a couple of laps before the checkered flag flew. Tomorrow he’ll continue experimenting with setup in an effort to reduce the gap to the front. Nicky Hayden (Ducati Marlboro Team) 4th, 1:34.652 “Today was certainly better than the last few Fridays, by quite a long way. It’s still early, and it’s just one day, but the bike felt quite good here straight away. The Portugal test was very useful for me and the team. We thought we made a little step there, and it seems like we confirmed that here. Overall, the bike definitely seems a little bit better, but we’ve still got a long way to go to be that fast consistently. Also, the gap to the very front is still out there quite a ways. Le Mans is difficult because it’s not a real grippy track, but we know our bike is really good on hard braking, and as I expected, that’s helping us here. Anyway, hopefully this will give us a little bit of momentum, and we’ll keep rolling tomorrow.” Valentino Rossi (Ducati Marlboro Team) 9th, 1:34.966 “For sure I hoped today would go better than that. We had a few problems trying to find the right setting, so we’re too far back today. We’re struggling somewhat on corner exits. The bike moves a lot under acceleration, and we’re trying to understand if it’s a question of setup, or one of electronics, because at the moment, I’m having a hard time riding. In the end, we found an interesting change for the rear, but there were just a few minutes left in the session. I only had time for a couple of laps, during which I more or less matched my best time. Maybe with a little more time, I could have dropped another tenth and made up some positions, but tomorrow we definitely have to do much better when we try that setup with more time.” More, from a press release issued by Honda: HONDA MOTOGP MEN HEAD TO LEGENDARY LE MANS ON A ROLL The MotoGP World Championship continues its swing through the European heart of the schedule with a stop at the famed Le Mans Circuit, where the Honda riders arrive brimming with confidence after a prolific start to the season. Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa put on a clinical display of race craft at the previous Portuguese Grand Prix at Estoril to win his first race of the season and move close to championship leader Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha). Pedrosa has long been known for his lightning starts, from which he would build an insurmountable advantage. But in Estoril, riding with the uncertainty of a surgically repaired left shoulder, Pedrosa stalked Lorenzo for 24 of 28 laps before making a precise pass to start the 25th lap. The Spaniard quickly pulled away, dispelling the myth that he could only win from the front while at the same time proving to himself and others that his shoulder wouldn’t be an impediment in his quest for the MotoGP World Championship. With the added rest since the race in Portugal, Pedrosa arrives in France ready to win again. Pedrosa was on pole two of the past three years in France, and has won the 250cc and 125cc races, but victory at Le Mans in the MotoGP class has so far eluded him. Given this season’s start-third, second, first-Pedrosa could join fellow Honda riders Freddie Spencer, Eddie Lawson, Mick Doohan, Alex Criville, Valentino Rossi, Sete Gibernau, and Marco Melandri as premier class winners at the circuit 200Km southwest of Paris. Casey Stoner (Repsol Honda RC212V) sits just behind Pedrosa in the championship with a season that’s been nearly as impressive. Stoner began with a win in Qatar from pole and was challenging for the win from pole in Jerez when he was knocked down and couldn’t restart. A back problem in Estoril prevented him from putting his talent to full use. Still, he finished on the podium in third. Andrea Dovizioso, the third member of the Repsol Honda team, made it three riders in the top four in Estoril, the best Honda finish since a sweep of the podium at the 2006 United States Grand Prix at Laguna Seca. The finish of the Estoril race was dramatic for Dovi, who used the power of the Honda RC212V to speed past Valentino Rossi (Ducati) at the finish line. By finishing fourth, the Italian moved within a point of Rossi for fourth in the championship behind Lorenzo, Pedrosa and Stoner. Dovi finished on the podium at Le Mans last year and hopes that with the help of the improvements made in a test following Estoril he can repeat the finish. The French Grand Prix marks the 40th anniversary of Repsol’s involvement in motorcycle racing. The Spanish oil giant first took to the track on the fairing of Angel Nieto’s motorcycle at the Salzburgring on May 9, 1971. The company has 25 championships, including nine in the premier class since joining Honda as title sponsor in 1995. Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini) has been brilliant in his second MotoGP season, but also inconsistent. The 1.83m tall Italian with the bushy hair had a decidedly mixed weekend in Estoril. For the first time in his young MotoGP career, he topped an official practice session, then repeated by sweeping both sessions on Friday. But his exuberance was tempered by a Friday crash. On Saturday he was within minutes of taking his first pole position when he again fell off. His race ended prematurely when he crashed on a cold tyre in the first left-hand corner after Estoril’s opening three rights. “Super Sic” didn’t dwell on it. In a test the day after the race he lapped faster than the circuit record lap and 1.4s quicker than the fastest lap from Sunday’s race. Despite having won there in 2009 and finishing second in 2008, Simoncelli isn’t a fan of the Le Mans circuit. Neither is team-mate Hiroshi Aoyama (San Carlo Honda Gresini). The top Japanese rider is enjoying a productive sophomore season with three top ten finishes, which he hopes to continue in France. In his second MotoGP season, and first with the Gresini Honda team, the former 250cc World Champion continues to build both his technical and racing experience. With an eye towards Le Mans, Aoyama turned in 73 laps during the Estoril test to finish just behind Pedrosa. Toni Elias (LCR Honda MotoGP) returns to one of the tracks where he recorded one of his seven Moto2 victories. When Elias won the Moto2 race at Le Mans he over the lead in the championship, which he never relinquished en route to the inaugural Moto2 World Championship. Elias has had success in the smaller classes in Le Mans-he won the 250cc race in 2003 and finished on the podium in the 125cc class, but hasn’t been as successful in the premier class, which he last competed in 2009. The dominant rider in this year’s Moto2 World Championship is Stefan Bradl (Viessmann Kiefer Racing, Kalex). The young German has had a nearly flawless season. His performance chart shows poles in all three races, and two dominant wins sandwiching a fifth in difficult conditions in Spain. In those two wins, in Qatar and Estoril, Bradl led all but one of the combined 46 laps. Bradl is the son of Helmut Bradl, who finished runner-up in the 1991 250cc World Championship. That season was the best of his six-year career, with all five of his wins coming in 1991, including in the Vitesse du Mans Grand Prix at the Le Mans circuit. Andrea Iannone (Speed Master, Suter) arrives in France second in the championship in a season in which he’s vastly improved on difficult qualifying sessions. The Italian finished second in Qatar after qualifying 16th, and won in Jerez from 11th on the grid. The Portuguese race proved more challenging. Iannone knows that he has to qualify better if he’s to contend for the title and is confident that he can close the gap on Bradl. Simone Corsi (Ioda Racing Project, FTR) has had a similar season to fellow Italian Iannone. Corsi hasn’t qualified better than 11th, but hasn’t finished worse than sixth. The finishing performances are more important and add up to third in the championship, but better starts in the highly competitive field would yield more podiums. Corsi returns to Le Mans with fond memories; it’s where he scored his first podium of the 2010 championship. The legend of Le Mans was built on the 24-hour races, held on the 13Km circuit. The track first hosted a motorcycle grand prix in 1969 on the shorter Le Mans Bugatti Grand Prix Circuit, which was built in 1965 around the much larger track. The French GP at Le Mans was on and off the calendar for a number of years-it has been held on eight different circuits-and removed following the 1995 race in which Alberto Puig, now Dani Pedrosa’s Repsol Honda team manager, suffered serious injuries. After numerous safety improvements were made, the race returned as a permanent fixture in 2000. The stop-and-go nature of the track doesn’t make it a favourite of the riders, who prefer fast, flowing tracks like Mugello and Phillip Island. The track has been altered a number of times to improve safety over the past decade-plus, but the essential character hasn’t changed. The 4.180Km circuit has 13 corners, nine rights and four lefts, with the longest straightaway only 674m. The result is a track thick with hard braking and subsequent acceleration, with electronics coming into play to modulate rear tyre spin on corner exit. The circuit may well be a challenge for riders of the Honda RC212V, which doesn’t list among its assets braking stability, though the situation has markedly improved this season, and further so during the post-Estoril test. On the plus side, among the many off-season improvements to the RC212V is much smoother corner exiting, with less movement of the rear tyre that allows riders to move quickly through the gears. HONDA MotoGP RIDER QUOTES Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa says: “It’s been the first week in a long time in which I have felt calm and confident, especially after the race we had in Portugal. It was a great release for me to feel good on the bike after the operation and makes me see things differently. After the race and Monday’s test I was very tired and sore. I spent three days resting to relax the muscles and then I continued with the physiotherapy and gently working with my trainer. Now, I look forward to getting back on the bike. Le Mans will be, as always, a difficult and busy weekend. I’ve done well overall in this circuit, I have quite a lot of confidence there, but I am yet to win in MotoGP and I would like to. It’s similar to Estoril, a stop-and-go track where Yamaha has been also very strong in the past. We need to take a big profit of the practice sessions to prepare a bike with good stability, traction and acceleration and be prepared for any track condition because of the weather. In this track you need to be also very focused because the race is long and it’s very important to be consistent and not make any mistakes.” Repsol Honda rider Casey Stoner says: “In Estoril I was very happy to retain third and keep some valuable points for the championship. We’ve always had some reasonable results in Le Mans, but never really quite good enough. The practice sessions will be important to get the set-up of the bike just right, and I feel the Honda should work well there so I’m looking forward to it.” Repsol Honda rider Andrea Dovizioso says: “After the improvements made in the post GP test in Estoril, we arrive in Le Mans more competitive. We will use the new clutch we tested in Portugal and take advantage of the set-up solutions tested there. Le Mans is a slow track and has a lot of changes of direction. Unfortunately the circuit has lost part of its fascination after changes made in the past years. I have always scored good results on this track; last year we had a very good race finishing on the podium. We head to Le Mans determined to repeat it. Our target is the podium and to achieve it we need to work well from the first day.” San Carlo Honda Gresini rider Marco Simoncelli says: “The Estoril test on the day after the race was a good way for me to put the race behind me and go to Le Mans with a different attitude. Now I am just looking forward to putting it behind me properly. The test was a useful and important one ahead of the fourth race of the season. I am more sure than ever that I can run with the front guys and I will be giving everything to come out with a top result. I will certainly be trying to make sure I don’t make the same mistake on a cold tyre because the only good thing that came out of it in Portugal was a nice picture of my aerial barrel roll! Joking aside, I am keen to do well at Le Mans, a circuit I don’t particularly like even though I won there in 250 in 2009 and finished second in 2008.” San Carlo Honda Gresini rider Hiroshi Aoyama says: “I am happy with the results so far and with my position in the championship. I have made good progress and I am adapting more and more to MotoGP, thanks also to the brilliant job being done by the team and the excellent relationship we are building. The test after the race at Estoril was positive and we got some good information for the future. Now we go to Le Mans feeling sure we can continue on this path. The track is not one of my favourites and I have not had good results there in the past, but I am sure we can change that this weekend.” LCR Honda MotoGP rider Toni Elias says: “In the recent years, Le Mans has been the scene of some thrilling races, several of them influenced by rainy conditions, so I am really hoping for a dry race. This track’s character is very stop-and-go, with plenty of slow turns, which means there will be some big battles on the brakes. Therefore we must concentrate on honing our machine stability during braking, as well as improving rear-end traction for the numerous hairpin exits. In the recent Portuguese testing session we obtained some small improvements on our bike stability, but this track is totally different. We come here with high motivation and we aim to take another step forward.” Moto2 RIDER QUOTES Viessmann Kieffer Racing, Kalex, rider Stefan Bradl says: “First of all, I hope for good weather for the whole weekend, because all the time it is changing. I think we will be having a good package at the moment, and for sure will be not easy this race. Also (Estoril) for me was very hard. Just keep concentrated on myself, doing my job and we can have a good weekend there.” Speed Master, Suter, rider Andrea Iannone says: “I sincerely hope that in (Le Mans) qualifying will be better, to be able to start from a better position. Now we must wait for the next race and do my best. (Stefan) Bradl has taken a small lead in the championship, but we are still at the beginning of the season. It’s a shame for the Estoril race, but I’m happy because we demonstrated our potential, now we just have to make the most of it.” Ioda Racing Project, FTR, rider Simone Corsi says: “We must continue working to do better and be able to give my best. I know I can do more. I know that I need to qualify better if I’m going to get on the podium in Le Mans, as I did last year. We will concentrate on our set-up in practice and hope for the best.”